Accelerator, incubator fuse fortes into one program
Starting this fall, existing and aspiring entrepreneurs can get comprehensive assistance to launch companies and build them into sustainable enterprises through a newly created program, ActivateNM.
It’s a joint effort between the ABQid business accelerator and the WESST Enterprise Center that combines ABQid’s lean startup model with WESST’s longer-term incubation system. The partners call it a “hybrid accelerator/incubator” program.
“We’re taking the best of what ABQid is doing with its intense, cohort-based model for fast-growing businesses and combining it with WESST’s strengths in providing strategies and operational foundations for companies to solidify as sustainable businesses,” said ABQid Executive Director T.J. Cook.
It’s not a new model. Similar programs exist in other states.
But it’s unique for Albuquerque, and it reflects the steady maturation of the local startup ecosystem, where more collaboration is emerging among existing entrepreneurial programs and organizations.
“If you look at ecosystems elsewhere, other cities have already combined incubators, accelerators and coworking spaces into unified models,” Cook said. “Albuquerque has been a bit more fragmented, but most of us know you can’t do it alone. There’s a new breed of leaders emerging who are collaborationsavvy, and organizations are working to pull together a lot more.”
That’s something WESST is already working on with the Latinofocused education and advocacy group Encuentro and the South Valley Economic Development Corp. through the Molino Project promoted by City Alive, an umbrella organization that aims to improve livelihoods through sustainable, homegrown businesses. Those groups have developed a software system that links their organizations online to rapidly connect individuals with needed resources.
“It takes a village,” said Julianna Silva, managing director of the WESST incubator. “People need a variety of support systems, so we’re working together to provide clients with different types of services where and when they’re needed, in the right place and the right time.”
ActivateNM takes it a step further, directly fusing ABQid’s accelerator services with WESST’s focus on incubating the basic foundations for a company’s long-term growth.
“You could say that incubators are like slow cookers, while accelerators are pressure cookers,” Cook said in a recent blog. “Incubators combine office space and wrap-around services for early-stage businesses that need time to figure out their business model and help building their business infrastructure. Startup accelerators, on the other hand ... help these businesses quickly find the right product and model with which to enter the market.”
Through ActivateNM, ABQid will now offer an eight-week accelerator program for up to 10 companies three times a year at the WESST Enterprise Center at Lomas and Broadway NE ,Downtown. Each cohort will be housed in WESST’s co-working suite, an open space with workstations for up to 15 people, equipped with computers, printers, telephones and internet access.
ABQid will guide the participants through the lean startup methodology, providing a hands-on crash course in building high-growth companies through direct customer research and market validation of new products and services. That includes constant networking with business consultants, entrepreneurs, professional organizations and investors, all reinforced through workshops and one-onone mentoring.
WESST will be involved from the start, helping the participating startups to set up accounting systems and other structures and navigating regulations and requirements to operate companies, Silva said.
“WESST gets down and dirty in the weeds to really understand the financials and how important they are as a foundation for growth,” Silva said. “The flexibility of the incubator space will also allow the participants to interface with other incubator clients and WESST staff, and attend our community events and workshops.”
When the eight-week accelerator ends, startup graduates can continue building their companies at WESST’s co-working suite, where they’ll meet weekly with ABQid mentors and WESST
consultants for ongoing assistance, and to assess whether they’re achieving agreed-upon milestones.
Companies showing progress can remain at the co-working space until they’re ready for independent steps. That usually lasts from two to six months, Cook said.
“Some will fail and exit the program, but the best companies will stick with it,” Cook said.
For companies that gain real traction, WESST will consider bringing them into the full incubator program, Silva said.
ActivateNM participation costs $100 per month. But scholarships of up to $2,000 will be available, Cook said.
The ABQid staff, meanwhile, has now moved into the WESST incubator from a conference room they’ve occupied at the FUSE Makerspace Downtown, although it will retain that space for workshops and events.
The accelerator will cease the annual 12-week programs it’s offered startups since launching in 2014 to instead focus on ActivateNM and on a new partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory to connect startups with promising technologies with defense-related innovators and contractors. That collaboration includes customized accelerator programs, beginning with a Hyperspace Challenge this fall for data analytics startups to apply their technologies to resolve spacerelated issues faced by the Department of Defense.
ABQid will maintain its “themed” accelerator approach with ActivateNM, grouping individual cohorts around a common industry focus. ActivateNM applications are now open through Aug. 31 for a first cohort of companies marketing software, or softwareenabled technologies.
To learn more or apply, visit www.abqid.com/ activatenm/.